CBS announces fall 2013 schedule

CBS unveiled a fall schedule this morning that adds one drama and four new comedies for fall, including a two-hour Thursday comedy block.

"Mike & Molly," starring Pittsburgh native Billy Gardell, is not on the fall schedule, but CBS has ordered a full 22-episode season and will bring the sitcom back sometime during the 2013-14 TV season.

New Suspense Thriller “Hostages” to Premiere Mondays at 10:00 PM in Fall, Building to Season Finale in January; New Action Drama “Intelligence” Moves into that Time Period in Mid-Season

The Three Most-Watched Dramas on TV – “NCIS,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and “Person of Interest” – to All Air on Tuesday Night

20 Hit Series Return

CBS unveiled today its new 2013-2014 schedule, featuring eight new series – five comedies and three dramas – to build on the strength of America’s top-rated network. Five of the new series will premiere in the fall and three at mid-season.

CBS will finish the current season as the top-rated network in viewers for the 10th time in 11 seasons, #1 in the adults 25-54 demographic and #1 in adults 18-49 for the first time since the 1991-1992 season.

For next fall, the Network is increasing its comedy lineup with four new comedies, expanding its comedy block on Thursdays from 8:00-10:00 PM and creating an encore hour for comedy broadcasts on Saturdays.

Two new dramas have been scheduled for Mondays at 10:00 PM. HOSTAGES, the serialized suspense thriller from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer starring Toni Collette and Dylan McDermott, premieres in the fall, building to a season finale in January. Soon after, INTELLIGENCE, a high-octane action drama starring Josh Holloway, Marg Helgenberger and Meghan Ory, moves into the time period for the remainder of the season.

The freshman series will be joined by 20 returning shows including NCIS, the season’s most watched show; THE BIG BANG THEORY, the season’s #1 comedy in viewers and demos; 60 MINUTES, the season’s #1 news magazine; and ELEMENTARY, the season’s #1 new drama.

In addition, the proven hit returning comedy MIKE & MOLLY, starring Academy Award nominee Melissa McCarthy and Billy Gardell; the new steamy legal drama RECKLESS; and the new romantic comedy FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES are set for mid-season.

The new 2013-2014 schedule is:

On Monday, the veteran comedy HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER begins its climatic final season at 8:00 PM, providing a strong lead-in for the new single-camera ensemble comedy WE ARE MEN at 8:30 PM. The top-rated comedy of the night, 2 BROKE GIRLS, is at 9:00 PM, seamlessly leading into the new Chuck Lorre comedy MOM at 9:30 PM. At 10:00 PM, HOSTAGES will launch in the fall, building to a season finale in January. Soon after, INTELLIGENCE will take over the time period for the season.

On Tuesdays, CBS makes a key scheduling move at 10:00 PM, creating a powerhouse lineup in which the three top-rated dramas on television now air on the same night. The most-watched series on television, NCIS, returns at 8:00 PM, followed by the #2-rated drama NCIS: LOS ANGELES at 9:00 PM. The #3-rated drama and fastest-growing series, PERSON OF INTEREST, caps the night at 10:00 PM.

On Wednesday, CBS’s strong lineup returns with the popular reality series SURVIVOR kicking off the night at 8:00 PM. The highest-rated drama of the night, CRIMINAL MINDS, returns at 9:00 PM, followed by the time-period-winning CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION at 10:00 PM.

On Thursday, CBS is expanding its comedy lineup from 8:00-10:00 PM. The #1-rated comedy, THE BIG BANG THEORY, returns at 8:00 PM, giving a powerful lead-in to the new Will Arnett comedy THE MILLERS. THE CRAZY ONES, featuring the return to series television of the legendary Robin Williams, opens the new comedy hour at 9:00 PM, followed by the return of the #2-rated comedy on TV, TWO AND A HALF MEN, at 9:30 PM. The #1-rated new drama, ELEMENTARY, caps the night at 10:00 PM.

On Friday, CBS moves an established drama to the middle of the lineup to strengthen a winning night. At 8:00 PM, the Emmy Award-winning and time period leader UNDERCOVER BOSS returns. The popular drama HAWAII FIVE-0 establishes a new beachhead at 9:00 PM, leading perfectly into BLUE BLOODS, the top-rated series of the night, at 10:00 PM.

On Saturdays, CBS has another hour of comedy. COMEDYTIME will feature encore broadcasts of the Network’s hit comedies at 8:00 PM, followed by the popular CRIMETIME programming at 9:00 PM, and the night’s top-rated broadcast 48 HOURS at 10:00 PM.

On Sunday, CBS’s critically acclaimed lineup returns intact with the top-rated, award-winning news magazine 60 MINUTES at 7:00 PM, followed by Emmy Award winner THE AMAZING RACE at 8:00 PM, the critical favorite THE GOOD WIFE at 9:00 PM and THE MENTALIST at 10:00 PM.

The Comedies:

WE ARE MEN is a single-camera comedy about four single guys living in a short-term apartment complex who unexpectedly find camaraderie over their many missteps in love. Carter (Chris Smith), the youngest and most recent addition to the group, moved in after being ditched at the altar mid-ceremony, and is now eager to re-enter the dating scene and get on with his life with some guidance from his “band of brothers”: Frank Russo (Golden Globe and multiple Emmy Award winner Tony Shalhoub), a successful middle-aged clothing manufacturer and four-time divorcée who still fancies himself a ladies man; Gil Bartis (Kal Penn), a small business owner who was caught having the world’s worst affair; and Stuart Strickland (Jerry O’Connell), a speedo-wearing OB/GYN who’s hiding his assets until his second divorce is settled. Jill (Rebecca Breeds) is Frank’s charming and attractive daughter, who stands as the one positive remnant from his failed relationships. Armed with a hot tub, pool-side barbeque and plenty of questionable advice, these losers in the marriage department take Carter under their wing to impart their own brand of wisdom about the opposite sex. Emmy Award winner Rob Greenberg, Eric Tannenbaum and Kim Tannenbaum are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Rob Greenberg directed the pilot.

MOM is a comedy from executive producer Chuck Lorre starring Anna Faris as a newly sober single mom raising two children in a world full of temptations and pitfalls, and multiple Emmy Award winner Allison Janney as her critical, estranged mother. Christy (Faris) is a waitress at a posh Napa Valley establishment who is four months clean and doing her best to be a good mom and overcome a history of questionable choices. Her sobriety is tested when Bonnie (Janney), her recovering alcoholic mom, reappears chock-full of passive-aggressive insights into Christy’s many mistakes. Bonnie joins Christy’s already complicated circle of relationships: her handsome, married boss – and lover – Gabriel (Nate Corddry); the restaurant’s hot-tempered chef, Rudy (French Stewart); her pretty, 16-going-on-25-year-old daughter, Violet (Sadie Calvano); her sweet but overly honest son, Roscoe (Blake Garrett Rosenthal); her irresponsible ex-husband and Roscoe’s father, Baxter (Matt Jones); and Violet’s clueless boyfriend, Luke (Spencer Daniels). Christy tries to remain positive as she pursues her new path in life, but she faces an uphill battle, surrounded by a dubious support system – and a copious amount of dysfunction. Chuck Lorre and Eddie Gorodetsky (“Two and a Half Men” and “The Big Bang Theory”) are executive producers for Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Pamela Fryman directed the pilot. Gemma Baker co-wrote the pilot with Lorre and Gorodetsky.

THE MILLERS stars Will Arnett as Nathan Miller, a recently divorced local roving news reporter looking forward to living the singles’ life until his parents’ marital problems unexpectedly derail his plans. After Nathan finally breaks the news of his divorce to his parents, Carol (Emmy Award winner Margo Martindale) and Tom (Emmy Award winner Beau Bridges), his father is inspired to follow suit and stuns the family when he leaves his wife of 43 years. Already in shock, Jack is even more aghast when his meddlesome mom decides to move in with him. Meanwhile, his absent-minded dad imposes upon Nathan’s sister, Debbie, her husband Adam and their daughter Mykayla (Eve Moon). Nathan’s best friend and news cameraman, Ray (JB Smoove), was excited to be Nathan’s wingman in the dating scene, but Carol manages to even cramp his style. Now, as Nathan and his sister settle in with their truly impossible parents, they both wonder just how long the aggravating adjustment period is going to last. Greg Garcia (“Raising Hope” and “My Name is Earl”) is the executive producer of THE MILLERS for CBS Television Studios. Emmy Award winner James Burrows directed the pilot.

Academy Award winner Robin Williams returns to series television in THE CRAZY ONES, a single-camera workplace comedy about a larger-than-life advertising genius whose unorthodox methods and unpredictable behavior would get him fired… if he weren’t the boss. Simon Roberts (Williams) is the head of a powerful agency, with the biggest clients and brands in the world, but even more important to him is that his daughter Sydney (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is by his side. As his partner, Sydney is Simon’s exact opposite – focused, organized and eager to make a name for herself, but also too busy parenting her father, which she’d resent if he wasn’t so brilliant at what he does. Joining them in the firm are the dashing and talented Zach (James Wolk); art director Andrew (Hamish Linklater), who’s as hard-working as he is neurotic; and the beautiful and deceptively smart assistant Lauren (Amanda Setton). With his team and his daughter behind him, Simon continues to set the advertising world on fire, and it looks like they are definitely buying what these crazy ones are selling. Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner David E. Kelley (“Ally McBeal” and “The Practice”), Bill D’Elia, Emmy Award winner Jason Winer (“Modern Family”), Dean Lorey, John Montgomery and Mark Teitelbaum are executive producers for Twentieth Century Fox Television. Jason Winer directed the pilot.

The Drama:

HOSTAGES, from executive producer Jerry Bruckheimer, is a high-octane suspense drama starring Emmy Award winner Toni Collette as a premiere surgeon thrust into a chilling political conspiracy when her family is taken hostage by rogue FBI Agent Duncan Carlisle (Dylan McDermott). Dr. Ellen Sanders (Collette) and her family are held captive in their home by Carlisle, a desperate man doing the wrong thing for the right reasons, who orders her to assassinate the President (James Naughton) when she operates on him. His highly skilled accomplices include his brother-in-law Kramer (Rhys Coiro), whose loyalty to Carlisle will be tested; quick-tempered and intimidating Archer (Billy Brown),an ex-military man with a razor-sharp tongue;and the only woman involved, Sandrine (Sandrine Holt), a mysterious last-minute replacement to the team. With her family’s life in peril, Ellen faces an incomprehensible moral dilemma in order to save her overbearing husband Brian (Tate Donovan), her secretive daughter Morgan (Quinn Shephard) and her not-so-innocent son Jake (Mateus Ward). In this high-stakes standoff between Ellen and Carlisle, fraught with tremendous national and personal consequences, the choices between right and wrong become even more blurred. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Rick Eid, Omri Givon, Rotem Shamir and Chayim Sharir are executive producers for Jerry Bruckheimer Television in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Mid-Season:

INTELLIGENCE is a dramatic thriller starring Josh Holloway as a high-tech intelligence operative enhanced with a super-computer microchip in his brain. With this implant, Gabriel (Holloway) is the first human ever to be connected directly into the worldwide information grid and have complete access to Internet, WiFi, telephone and satellite data. He can hack into any data center and access key intel in the fight to protect the United States from its enemies. Leading the elite government cyber-security agency created to support him is Director Lillian Strand (Marg Helgenberger), a straightforward and efficient boss who oversees the unit’s missions. Strand assigns Riley Neal (Meghan Ory), a Secret Service agent, to protect Gabriel from outside threats, as well as from his appetite for reckless, unpredictable behavior and disregard for protocol. Other skilled members of the Cybercom team include Chris Jameson (Michael Rady) and Gonzalo “Gonzo” Rodriguez (James Martinez), two resourceful federal investigators. The brains behind the design of the chip is Dr. Shenendoah Cassidy (John Billingsley), whose son, Nelson (PJ Byrne), is jealous of Gabriel’s prominent place in his father’s life. As the first supercomputer with a beating heart, Gabriel is the most valuable piece of technology the country has ever created and is the U.S.’s secret weapon. Michael Seitzman, René Echevarria, Tripp Vinson, and David Semel (for pilot) are executive producers for ABC Television Studios in association with CBS Television Studios.

RECKLESS is a sultry legal drama set in Charleston, S.C., where a gorgeous Yankee litigator and a charming Southern attorney must hide their intense mutual attraction as a police sex scandal threatens to tear the city apart. Jamie Sawyer (Anna Wood) is enviously cool, confident and armed with south-side-of-Chicago street-smarts as she takes on the good ol’ boys in the South. Her handsome courtroom rival, Roy Rayder (Cam Gigandet), a divorced father of two, embodies the Old South and is the newly minted City Attorney, thanks to his influential former father-in-law, Dec Fortnum (Gregory Harrison). When disgraced cop Lee Anne Marcus (Georgina Haig) hires Jamie to represent her in a lawsuit against the police department, Jamie and Roy discover that Lee Anne is at the epicenter of a sinister case with dire implications for the members of the Charleston P.D. Heading that department is Deputy Chief Holland Knox (Michael Gladis), a family man who radiates integrity. Working under him are Terry McCandless (Shawn Hatosy), a cocky and corrupt detective, and Preston Cruz (Adam Rodriguez), Jamie’s well-respected boyfriend who might not be all that he appears. Helping Jamie is her confidante and paralegal, Vi (Kim Wayans), an expert at digging up case-winning information. As Jamie and Roy spar in and out of the courtroom, dark secrets simmer behind every door and threaten to tarnish the genteel facade of seductive Charleston. Ian Sander, Kim Moses, Dana Stevens, Corey Miller and Catherine Hardwicke are executive producers for CBS Television Studios. Catherine Hardwicke (“Twilight”) directed the pilot.

FRIENDS WITH BETTER LIVES is a romantic comedy about six friends at different stages in their lives – married, divorced, newly engaged and single – who are outwardly happy, but secretly questioning if their friends have it better. Andi (Majandra Delfino) and Bobby (Kevin Connolly) are happily married with two kids but at times long for the days they had less responsibility and more fun; Will (James Van Der Beek) is newly single and preaching the bachelor lifestyle, but still pining for his ex-wife; Jules (Brooklyn Decker) and Lowell (Rick Donald) are high on their passionate new relationship; and Kate (Zoe Lister Jones) has a successful career but may take a swan dive into the L.A. River when she finds out her last remaining single friend, Jules, just got engaged. When it comes to relationships, these six friends are finding it a challenge to look at each other without wondering… who really has the better life? Dana Klein and Aaron Kaplan are executive producers for Twentieth Century Fox Television. Emmy Award winner James Burrows directed the pilot.

CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

2013-2014 PRIME TIME SCHEDULE

(N=New, NT=New Time, all times ET/PT)

MONDAY

8:00-8:30 PM HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

8:30-9:00 PM WE ARE MEN (N)

9:00-9:30 PM 2 BROKE GIRLS

9:30-10:00 PM MOM (N)

10:00-11:00 PM HOSTAGES (N)

INTELLIGENCE (Mid-Season) (N)

TUESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM NCIS

9:00-10:00 PM NCIS: LOS ANGELES

10:00-11:00 PM PERSON OF INTEREST (NT)

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00 PM SURVIVOR

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMINAL MINDS

10:00-11:00 PM CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

THURSDAY

8:00-8:30 PM THE BIG BANG THEORY

8:30-9:00 PM THE MILLERS (N)

9:00-9:30 PM THE CRAZY ONES (N)

9:30-10:00 PM TWO AND A HALF MEN (NT)

10:00-11:00 PM ELEMENTARY

FRIDAY

8:00-9:00 PM UNDERCOVER BOSS

9:00-10:00 PM HAWAII FIVE-0 (NT)

10:00-11:00 PM BLUE BLOODS

SATURDAY

8:00-8:30 PM COMEDYTIME SATURDAY (N)

8:30-9:00 PM COMEDYTIME SATURDAY (N)

9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY

10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS

SUNDAY

7:00-8:00 PM 60 MINUTES

8:00-9:00 PM THE AMAZING RACE

9:00-10:00 PM THE GOOD WIFE

10:00-11:00 PM THE MENTALIST

# # #

Video preview packages will be available today on CBS.com and CBS’s YouTube channel http://bit.ly/10MeyG0 after 6:00 PM, ET.

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